Review from The Sunday Times: Worthwhile journeys – September 5

The inclusion of orchestras from Norway, Minnesota and the Czech republic gave this year’s Proms potency

[This article featured reviews of several orchestras. Our excerpt below includes all text relating to the Minnesota Orchestra performance.]

…[Osmo] Vänskä’s programmes with his excellent, fresh-and fullsounding and acute [Minnesota] orchestra each culminated in a more than hour-long symphony: Bruckner’s Fourth, given with a wonderful cohesiveness and glow, albeit in an edition imposing dubious cuts; and Beethoven’s Ninth. This traditional Proms item (which is no longer reserved for the penultimate night) involved the BBC Symphony Chorus and a team of soloists among whom the bass, Neal Davies, stood out: I’ve rarely heard the invocation of joyous tones after the finale’s second bout of dissonance made more meticulous yet powerful. And Vänskä’s insightful way with the piece ensured that the three previous movements always retained a preludial tension, no matter how conclusively expressive they might seem: everything tended toward the sublime – and here, brilliantly controlled – finale.

Paul Driver
The Sunday Times